Faker The Man Behind SK Telecom’s Success In MSI 2019

No one could have expected such an action packed start to the Mid Season Invitational 2019. So far the tournament had it all, some unexpected upsets, lower tier teams refusing to give and some big plays that kept us one the edge of our seats. After five days of non-stop action and entertainment in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was great to see Team Liquid, G2 Esports, SK Telecom T1, and Invictus Gaming coming on top after 29 games played.

On late friday night or early hours of Saturday, in Taipei, Taiwan, IG will take on Liquid in the first match of the semifinal. Meanwhile G2 will be taking on the 3x world champion SK Telecom T1 on the next day. The winning team of both of these encounter will compete in a best of five series for the right to be crowned the MSI 2019 champion.

Faker for the win at MSI 2019

The road to the playoff have been quite intense. The most successful player in the competitive landscape, Faker have surely caught our eye with some remarkable performances. We will have a comprehensive look at the top champion pick, Ryze of the star and how it has contributed to the team’s success.

SKT had their fair share of struggles against G2 and was completely outplayed by IG in the first half of the tournament. Yet at the tournament progressed, the side found its way back into the top ranks. They did so at the perfect moment, since one poor performance could have destroyed the teams hopes for the final stage.

IG feeling the wrath of Faker

The Korean side really needed its stars to shine and unarguably the most consistent player was Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. Even when SK lose he was the one with the best statistics for his team. In the first encounter IG, Faker didn’t had enough time to assert his dominance over his counterpart, Rookie. Since IG simply dominated the other to lane at finished the game at 16 minute mark.

In the 2nd game, SK and Faker seemed to be a completely different team. The Chinese side was focused to enter the playoffs with a 10-0 record, meanwhile the Koreans had other plans. Faker had a tough time in the early game since IG constantly focused on making mid rotations. Yet Kim “Clid” Tae-min recognized the situation and proved to be a solid wing man for the Faker.

Ryze the perfect pick

Faker chose to pick Ryze in the second encounter against IG at MSI 2019. Some though it wasn’t the right move since the champion need to get a lot of kills to become effective. Yet that didn’t stop Faker to pick one of his most played heroes. He didn’t focus on the farm and prioritized to roam across the map.

He used he ultimate on the perfect moment to steer the side to victory. Despite having a hard early game. Faker’s Ryze truely carried the game for his team in the late stage. He continued pressuring iG, finding pivotal kills to propel SKT to the win.